The smoke over the North City Wall had yet to clear completely. The wind swept dust and the rank stench of Demon Beasts toward them, making their throats tighten.
Several sections of the battlements had collapsed. Broken stones and snapped spears littered the ground, and a few soldiers of the City Guard were clearing the breaches with shovels. They lifted the fallen onto stretchers with gentle movements, as though afraid of disturbing the dead.
Medics ran back and forth along the defensive lines with medicine chests on their backs, calling for people to make way. Stretchers covered in white cloth were carried down from the wall one after another. The footsteps were varied but orderly, and no one spoke loudly. Everyone carried the weariness of those who had narrowly survived disaster.
Shen Fei leaned against a stretch of battlement that was still mostly intact, his Fine Iron Sword angled against the ground. Dark brown blood had crusted on its blade.
He had just been relieved at the western breach. His left arm was bandaged where a Demon Beast's claws had grazed it earlier. The wound was minor and had only seeped a little blood.
Demon Beast corpses lay in a long swath below the wall, stretching from its base to half a li away. Most were bronze and Silver Rank, though a few gold rank beasts lay farther off, their enormous bodies particularly conspicuous.
"Young Master Shen! We've finished the count!" The junior officer responsible for tallying casualties ran over with a ledger in his arms, barely able to suppress the relief on his face. Catching his breath, he reported, "Twenty thousand dead, one thousand seriously wounded, and three thousand lightly wounded in this battle. Before the fighting, we estimated losses of at least thirty thousand. That means... casualties were